Tolkien what a guy what a life!

[Beren87]

But since he wanted to have a normal life he decided to stay in the background, stay very private, and let his works speak for themselves.

I find that to be quite..unusual. The fact that he was able to write something that could capture a granduer of attention, yet still be able to keep a more-or-less low-profile is quite amazing. In fact, his very wanting to isn't normal for this day in age.

He was the stereotypical professor, a simple expert in his field while being a laymen in every other. His life was much the same, centered around something very singular. The fact that he was an orphan and more or less raised by a man of the cloth is certainly not common, but not terribly unusual either. I doubt you could find too much from his actualy life-experience to explain his writings.